Bubble-within-bubble inflating apparatus



June 6, 1967 w. GIBBONS BUBBLE-WITHIN-BUBBLE INFLATING APPARATUS med oct. 27, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet l June 6, 1967 w. GuaaoNs 3,323,250

BUBBLE-WITHIN-BUBBLE INFLAT ING APPARATUS Filed oct. 27, 1964 2 sheetsheet ,27mm/rae. W4 VME @seo/VS,

y @Mw 0 United States Patent 3,323,250 BUBBLE-WITHIN-BUBELE INFLATING APPARATUS Wayne Gibbons, 1121 Averill Ave., San Pedro, Calif. 90732 Filed Oct. 27, 1964, Ser. No. 406,711 4 Claims. (Cl. 466) This invention relates generally to the toy art and is particularly directed to that class of childrens toys designated as bubble blowers.

The art of blowing bubbles with a pipe and soapy water solution is ancient, and it probably had its greatest advance with the introduction of the smoking pipe. Clay smoking pipes in particular have been popular in the past for this harmless practice.

The art has been accelerated with the introduction of liquidsv which have film forming characteristics with a necessary surface tension property. The art of devices with which to biow bubbles has, however, lagged behind and although devices have been proposed which would blow multiple bubbles and bubbles within bubbles simultaneously, none of these have been satisfactory to date. It is believed that this unsatisfactory condition has arisen out of the complexity of the devices proposed, and particularly with the fact that those working in the art confined their efforts to a smoking pipe configuration, or the like, wherein a relatively long hollow stern is provided with a bit at one end to be placed in the mouth and a complex bowl at the other end for the inflation of the liquid film by air blown through the stern.

It was discovered that a considerable advance in the art was to be had with a fresh approach which discarded al most entirely the various features of the arrangements proposed in the prior art. This new approach found that the stem and the bit, the latter of which was always an unsanitary element, could be discarded completeiy with a new and improved design of a device or apparatus to replace the conventional bowl.

It is a general object to provide apparatus as aforesaid which is simple to fabricate from inexpensive materials and which need not be placed in the mouth in order to be used. It is another general object to provide apparatus as aforesaid which can be used to iniiate one bubble inside another simultaneously.

It is a particular object to provide apparatus comprising `a substantially elongate tubular member defining a relatively large air passageway open at both ends, one end of which is available to be blown into and the other end of which provides an opening across which a liquid film may be disposed to be inflated into a bubble.

` It is another object to provide apparatus as aforesaid in which the tubular member comprises upstream and downstream portions, a second smaller tubular member being disposed in the downstream portion whereby separate airstream passages are formed, the outer ends of which are arranged in such fashion as to provide simultaneous inflation of one bubble inside a larger outer bubble from a liquid iilm disposed across said outer ends.

It is a further object to provide apparatus as aforesaid in which the means provided to dispose a second tubular member within the elongate member comprises a perforated web extending across the air passage in the elongate member and to which an end of the second member is secured, the perforations serving to provide communication between the upstream passageway -of said elongate member and both of the passageways, respectively, downstream of said web, one of said downstream -passageways being defined by the interior of said second tubular member and the other of said passageways being detned by the generally annular space between the two tubular members.

A particular object in respect of the latter object immediately above is to provide apparatus in which the total area of the aperture communicating with one of said downstream passageways is greater than the aperture area communicating with the other of the downstream passageways.

It is another particular object to form the downstream portion of the outer tubular member with a frustoconical configuration and thus defining with the inner tubular member an annular passageway of decreasing area from the inlet to the outlet thereof.

A general object is to provide another embodiment of apparatus having a pair of elongate tubular members, one within the other, with adjustable aperture means for varying or proportioning the flow into the downstream passageways.

Another general object is to provide yet another ernbodiment of apparatus having a pair of elongate tubular members adjustable one within the other to vary the relative outlet end relationship ofl the downstream passageways.

In the embodiments of the invention illustrated in the drawings and described below, it will be apparent at once to those skilled in the art that other similar embodiments may be devised for the practice -of the art. Hence the embodiments shown and described are merely by way of being exemplary and are not to be construed as being limitative as against equivalent structures.

In the drawings:

FIG. l is an illustration of one manner in which the invention may be employed;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section view in elevation of one basic embodiment of the invention;

FIIG. 3 is a partial plan view directed from the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal section view in elevation of another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a plan view taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal section view in elevation of yet another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a perspective View of another embodiment of the invention which features adjustability of various parts for varying the flow at the outlet ends of .the passageways or the relative end relationship of the members;

FIG. 8 is a longitudinal section view of one form of the apparatus such as illustrated in FlG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a cross-section View taken on the line 9 9 of FIG. 8; and

FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of the device of FIGS. 8 and 9.

It will be observed 4in FIG. 1 that the `apparatus 2t) of this invention is adapted to be held between the in dex finger and thumb somewhat distal of the mouth. As aforesaid, such an arrangement is clearly to be preferred than the unhygienic devices of the prior art. As shown in FIG. l, a gentle, directed breeze from the mouth into the inlet end 22 of the device causes intlation of a bubble within a bubble at the outlet end 24 from a liquid film formed across said end.

Referring to the other figures for details of preferred embodiments, in FIGS. 2 and 3 the apparatus 30 comprises a generally annular tubular member 32 having an upstream portion 34 and a downstream portion 36. The upstream portion 34 defines an inlet opening 38 into which air is blown as indicated generally by the arrow 40. Preferably, the tubular member 32 is somewhat elongate relative to its transverse dimension, and the upstream portion 34 forms a boundary and guide means for the air entering the inlet 38. However, as will be apparent from the description below, the upstream pori tion `34 is not an `essential adjunct to the successful operation of the apparatus. More conveniently it enables the apparatus to be grasped by the fingers upstream of the bubble forming end.

As disclosed, the downstream portion 36 is preferably somewhat frusto-conical in configuration for a purpose to be disclosed below.

Disposed within the downstream portion 36 is a somewhat smaller tubular member 42 which is retained preferably concentrically within the outer tubular member 32. Means fixing the two tubular members in that re lationship is preferably comprised of a perforated web 44, although any other fixation means could be employed as will be evident to those skilled in the art.

As aforesaid, the web 44 is perforated, and preferably with two annularly disposed series of holes and one central hole. One series of holes 46, as better seen in FIG. 3, communicate between the passageway 48 in the upstream portion 34 of the member 32 and the annular passageway 50 defined between the downstream portion 36 and the inner tubular member 42 so as to provide for air flow generally as indicated by the arrows 52.

Another series of holes S4 including `the central hole communicate between the upstream passageway 48 and the passageway 56 so as to provide air flow generally as indicated by the arrows 58.

The total cross-section area of the holes 46 is at least equal to that of the holes 54, but preferably greater. To that end it has been found that twelve of the holes 46 and seven of the holes 54 provide a satisfactory arrangement since the volume of air admitted 4to the pasageway 50 is apparently greater than that admitted to the passageway 56 inasmuch as the outer bubble to be inflated encompasses a greater volume than `that of the inner bubble.

Preferably, the discharge end 60 of the inner tubular member 42 extends axially somewhat beyond the discharge end 62 of the tubular member 32 as this has been found to be an excellent arrangement to inflate one bubble within another.

It will be observed in FIG. 2 that the inner tubular member is also frusto-conical in configuration. Preferably, the included cone angle of the inner member is somewhat less than that of the outer member so that the liquid film disposed between the outer end 62 of the outer member 32 and the outer wall of the inner member 42 does not tend to creep into the passageway 50 by reason of the surface tension property of the liquid film.

In operation, the ends 60 and 62 of the apparatus are dipped into a film forming liquid, after which the apparatus is placed in front of the mouth about as shown in FIG. l. A gentle blowing of air from the mouth then results in the infiation of a bubble within a bubble from the liquid film disposed across the ends 60 and 62.

In FIGS. 4 and 5 there is shown another embodiment similar to that of FIGS. 2 and 3. An outer tubular member 32 is provided with an inner tubular member 43 secured therewithin by means of a perforated web 45. As best seen in FIG. 5, the web is perforated with two outer circles of holes 47 and 49 which communicate between the upstream passageway 48 of the member 32 and the downstream passageway S1 defined between the two tubular members.

The web is also provided with a large central hole 53 which communicates between the passageway 48 and the downstream passageway 55 defined by .the interior of the tubular member 43. Preferably, the total area of the holes 47 and 49 is equal to or greater than that of the large central hole 53. The upper end of the tubular member 43 defines a plurality of somewhat elongate passageways 57, equal in number and disposed opposite to the holes 49 so as to provide a criss-cross equalization flow path for the air from the upstream passageway 48 to the downstream passageways 51 and 55, substantially as shown by the arrows 59 and 61 in FIG. 4. An annular ffange 63 may be secured to the outer periphery of the tubular member 43 adjacent the lower ends of the passageways 57 so as to provide a measure of air flow control into the passageways 51 and 55.

The embodiment of FIG. 6 is similar in most respects to both of those shown in FIGS. 2-5, with the additional lprovision of a defiector 64 comprised of a conical rooflike portion 68 supported by an annular pedestal portion 68 which is secured to the web 70. The pedestal 68 defines a plurality of passageways 72 through which air may pass from the upstream passageway 74, through the space 76 defined between the inner periphery of the outer tubular member and the outer edge of the roof-like portion 66, through the passageways 72 into the large passageway 78 defined by the inner ,tubular member as shown by the arrow 80. The space 76 also provides an air passageway communicating between the passageways 74 and 82.

The embodiment 99 illustrated in FIGS. '7-10 comprises rst, second, and third tubular sleeve means axially and rotatively disposed so as to provide means for varying the air fiow through the outlet ends. The first tubular sleeve means 100 comprises an end -wall 102 disposed across the end of the cylindrical side wall 104 which is slidingly engaged within the cylindrical side wall 106 of the second tubular means 108 which is provided with an end wall 110 defining an apertured web provided with holes 1.12, preferably seven in number as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 9. Depending from the lower face of the end wall 110 is an inner tubular member 114 which is frusto-conical in conguration.

The cylindrical side wall 106 of the sleeve 108 is slidingly engaged within the cylindrical side wall 116 of the third sleeve means 118. The lower end of the wall 116 merges with the outer frusto-conical member 120.

As noted, the sleeve 100 is slidingly engaged, both rotatively and axially, within the sleeve 108, and the sleeve 108 is likewise engaged within the sleeve 118.

The lower portion 120 of the sidewall 104 of the first sleeve means 100 is interrupted to provide alternating arcuate legs 122 and passageway slots 124. The lower portion 126 of the sidewall 106 of the second sleeve means .108 is likewise interrupted to provide alternating 4arcuate legs 128 and passageway slots 130. The number of legs and slots in each of the portions 120 and 126 is preferably four of each. Preferably, also, the arcuate width of the legs is somewhat greater than the width of the slots so that when the sleeve means 100 is inserted in the sleeve means 108 to its greatest extent, rotation of the means 100 within the means 108 will cause the legs 122Y to cover or uncover the slots 130 to a greater or lesser extent, thereby providing variability of the air passageways through the slots as described below.

The upper end of the sleeve means 100 defines an inlet for air into the passageway 132, and the slots 124 defined by the legs 122 and the endwall y102 provide communication between the passageway 132 and the chamber 134, as shown in FIG. 8. The slots 130 provide communication between the chamber 134 and the outer downstream passageway 136 defined between the inner tubular member 114 and the lower portion 120 of the sleeve 118. The holes 112 in the endwall 110 provide communication between the chamber 134 and the inner downstream passageway 138 defined by the interior of the member 114.

Thus the rotational and longitudinal adjustability of the sleeve 100 within the sleeve 108, and of the sleeve 108 within the sleeve 118, may be employed to vary the flow of air from the upstream passageway 132 into the two downstream passageways 136 and 138. In addition,lthe longitudinal adjustability of the sleeve 108 within the sleeve 118 may be employed to vary the axial relationship of the outlet ends 140 and 142 which define means for retaining a liquid film thereacross when dipped into and removed from a film forming solution.

It is now seen that by adjusting the sleeve 100 longitudinally within the `sleeve 108 so that the endwall 102 of sleeve `100 is closely adjacent the endwall 110 of sleeve 108 the flow of air through the holes 112 into the passageway 138 can be greatly restricted relative to the ow into the passageway 136.

The combination of longitudinal and rotational adjust- Iability of sleeve 100 within sleeve 108 provides Vfor various interesting formations of a bubble within a bubble. Adjustment before and during the formation of the bubbles provides for further interesting variations of bubble formation. This is easily accomplished when the sleeves are fabricated from one ofthe inert and softly resilient plastics, such as one of the family of poly-tetr-auoroethylenes, for example.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for inating simultaneously a bubble within a bubble, comprising:

(a) a iirst elongate substantially tubular member having a generally cylindrical upstream portion and a downstream portion of generally converging frustoconical configuration, said portions defining a iirst passageway axis;

(b) a second shorter substantially tubular member disposed within said downstream portion of said first member, said second member deiining a second passageway axis; and

(c) perforate web means disposed across said passageway of said first member between said upstream and downstream portions thereof, an upstream end of said second tubular member being secured to said web means with said axes coinciding substantially, said web means comprising first and second apertured portions providing communication between said upstream and downstream portions of said first member and between said upstream portion of said rst member and said passageway of said second member, respectively, both said members defining outlet ends of both said passageways arranged relative to each other as to dene means rfor retaining a liquid film thereacross when :said ends are dipped into and removed from a film forming liquid, the outlet area 1at the downstream end of said first passageway being less than the area immediately upstream thereof by reason of the yfrusto-conical configuration of said downstream portion whereby the liquid film across said rst passageway is effectively prevented from creeping thereinto.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further characterized in that the total aperture cross-sectional area of said lirst web portion is at least equal to that of said second web portion.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 further characterized in that said perforate web means is provided with a generally cylindrical wall means extending upstream and adjustably disposed within said upstream portion of said first mem- .ber so as to vary the relative positions of said outlet ends of said first and second members.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 further comprising:

(a) a generally cylindrical member having a cylindrical sidewall portion adjustably disposed within said cylindrical wall means, and further having an endwall portion, one of `said sidewall Iand endwall portions defining an aperture providing communication therethrough and thereby providing adjustable cornmunication between the interior of said sidewall portion and said downstream portion of said irst member and the passageway of said second member by way of said first and second apertured portions of said web means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 650,324 5/1900 Horton 46-6 2,305,382 12/1942 Hagopian 46--6 2,561,974 7/ 1951 Corbitt 46-6 3,183,621 5/1965 Allen 46-6 RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner.

R. F. CUTTING, Assistant Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR INFLATING SIMULTANEOUSLY A BUBBLE WITHIN A BUBBLE, COMPRISING: (A) A FIRST ELONGATE SUBSTANTIALLY TUBULAR MEMBER HAVING A GENERALLY CYLINDRICAL UPSTREAM PORTION AND A DOWNSTREAM PORTION OF GENERALLY CONVERGING FRUSTOCONICAL CONFIGURATION, SAID PORTIONS DEFINING A FIRST PASSAGEWAY AXIS; (B) A SECOND SHORTER SUBSTANTIALLY TUBULAR MEMBER DISPOSED WITHIN SAID DOWNSTREAM PORTION OF SAID FIRST MEMBER, SAID SECOND MEMBER DEFINING A SECOND PASSAGEWAY AXIS; AND (C) PERFORATE WEB MEANS DISPOSED ACROSS SAID PASSAGEWAY OF SAID FIRST MEMBER BETWEEN SAID UPSTREAM AND DOWNSTREAM PORTIONS THEREOF, AN UPSTREAM END OF SAID SECOND TUBULAR MEMBER BEING SECURED TO SAID WEB MEANS WITH SAID AXES COINCIDING SUBSTANTIALLY, SAID WEB MEANS COMPRISING FIRST AND SECOND APERTUREDD PORTIONS PROVIDING COMMUNICATION BETWEEN SAID UPSTREAM AND DOWNSTREAM PORTIONS OF SAID FIRST MEMBER AND BETWEEN SAID UPSTREAM PORTION OF SAID FIRST MEMBER AND SAID PASSAGEWAY OF SAID SECOND MEMBER, RESPECTIVELY, BOTH SAID MEMBERS DEFINING OUTLET ENDS OF BOTH SAID PASSAGEWAYS ARRANGED RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER AS TO DEFINE MEANS FOR RETAINING A LIQUID FILM THEREACROSS WHEN SAID ENDS ARE DIPPED INTO AND REMOVED FROM A FILM FORMING LIQUID, THE OUTLET AREA AT THE DOWNSTREAM END OF SAID FIRST PASSAGEWAY BEING LESS THAN THE AREA IMMEDIATELY UPSTREAM THEREOF BY REASON OF THE FRUSTO-CONICAL CONFIGURATION OF SAID DOWNSTREAM PORTION WHEREBY THE LIQUID FILM ACROSS SAID FIRST PASSAGEWAY IS EFFECTIVELY PREVENTED FROM CREEPING THEREINTO. 